I know someone who’s going to get this for Christmas!
The DVD Rewinder:

Product Features

* Rewinds DVDs, CDs, Game Discs - and more!
* Use default ‘rewind sound’, or create your own!
* Hidden drawer for disc cleaning fluid, paper clips, or pennies.
* Requires one (1x) 9volt battery (not included).

Today’s Geekasm comes to you via Think Geek, it’s the Optimus Maximus Keyboard.

Yep. Time to take a second mortgage on your home or break into your kid’s college fund. With the singing of angels and a ray of sunlight parting the clouds, the fabled Optimus Maximus Keyboard has descended from Russia design studio Art Lebedev like an orgasm of geekiness. As you should know by now this amazing keyboard features a tiny screen on each key… that’s 113 screens in all. What can you do with these tiny screens you ask? Well each key can change it’s image dynamically depending on what you doing. Hold down SHIFT and all keys go uppercase. Run Photoshop and you can set it so each hotkey has an image representing it’s function. Set a key to monitor your CPU usage or display what iTunes track you are currently playing. You can make a key into a tiny clock with moving hands and play animated gif files or even quicktime movies. Of course all this futuristic technology is going to cost you a pretty penny… but we figure you’ll just expense the Optimus and tout it’s “incredible increased efficiency when using PowerPoint hotkeys” in your expense report summary.

Product Features
* Revolutionary Keyboard Features a tiny OLED screen on each key. 113 screens total.
* Each key can be individually programmed to perform a series of functions, open an application or run an Applescript (Mac only)
* Various System Monitor functions can dynamically display on a key including CPU usage, CPU temperature, Network Speed, and Memory Usage
* Play a GIF animation or Quicktime movie on a Key
* Paint images across all keys at once in your image editor of choice
* Key sets can be linked to an application, so whenever you open that app the appropriate keys come up
* Powerful layer function allows you to combine existing key sets in different ways
* Use any language with the appropriate key images including Cyrillic, Ancient Greek, Georgian, Arabic, Quenya, and Hiragana.
* Display notes, numerals, special symbols, HTML codes, math functions or any other special symbol.
* Any key (or to be exact, a unit consisting of a cap, a microchip and a display) can be easily removed by hands to be cleaned or replaced
* Built in USB hub
* SD Card Slot for Storing keyboard Settings

What the hey, it’s only $1589.99. Pocket change. Right?

H/T: Squirl

The Saitek X52 Flight Control System– I has it!

Developed using customer feedback from our previous award-winning X36 and X45 stick and throttle controllers, the X52 Flight System is the premium stick model outside our Pro Flight Range.
Featuring 23 buttons, three 8-way hat switches and 7 control axes, the X52 gives you 47 basic commands plus the control axes. But when you include the programming options provided by powerful Saitek Smart Technology programming software, which allows you to make use of the 3 position mode switch and Pinkie shift switch, the total number of programmable commands rises to 282!

* The most fully integrated PC Flight Control System
* Precision engineering, ergonomic design and a detailed fusion of features deliver maximum aeronautical authenticity
* Advanced programming provided by Saitek Smart Technology (SST) software
* Enhanced game play through intuitive Multi-Function display (MFD)
* illuminated buttons and MFD - ideal for low light environments
* Rubber grips and ergonomic design for increased comfort and fatigue-free gaming
* Part metal construction for increased durability and authenticity
* Includes Roger Wilco Chat software - the ideal accompaniment for on-line multi-player gaming

Trying to figure out which flight system to purchase was a little daunting. Online customer reviews of various systems are either five-stars, or one-star. Very few customer ratings are in between. I knew I wanted a HOTAS (Hands On Throttle And Stick) system, but that was the extent of my wishes. The Thrustmaster Cougar Flight Control System had many great, five-star reviews, but for the extra cost ($204.98 on Amazon), there were a lot of complaints about quality and breakage. After comparing the Thrustmaster reviews to the Saitek reviews, I was confident that the Saitek would be best for me. Not only is it less expensive ($86.49 on Amazon, but I found it for $79.99 at Best Buy), it had more positive reviews, and over all seemed more comfortable (and it is comfortable). I’ve had no problems with Microsoft Flight Simulator X responding to throttle controls, and the controls are easy to program for sensitivity. I will agree with many negative reviews that the profile editor for the controls are sub par, and it’s probably best to get instructions on use through flight simulator.

Next up for me? Rudder Pedals. Should you be worried that a flight instructor may someday give me a Pilot’s Certificate? Nah…

No, not the Iraq war, silly. Don’t cross your fingers on that one. I’m talking about the Blu-Ray/HD DVD war. Sheesh…

TOKYO (Reuters) - Toshiba Corp is planning to stop production of equipment compatible with the HD DVD format for high-definition video, allowing the competing Blu-Ray camp a free run, public broadcaster NHK reported on Saturday.
Reuters

The day before Toshiba’s announcement, Wal-Mart made an announcement that they will no longer stock HD DVD movies and players. It is expected that Toshiba will lose tens of millions of dollars. They will continue selling HD equipment at stores but will no longer develop new devices.

I knew Blu-Ray would win. It just has a better name.

An update about the drink chiller/warmer I mentioned in this post:  It’s a piece of junk.  Don’t buy one.  I would do better to set my soda in the window sill to keep it chilled.

After much complaining by my plus-one, Dan, that I waste too much soda and tea because it either gets too warm or too cold, I’ve ordered a USB drink chiller/warmer from Think Geek. We’d been thinking about ordering a USB drink chiller for a while. That will help keep my soda cold, but I also wanted a USB drink warmer for my hot tea. Dan finally said, “Enough, order a USB drink chiller.” The first place I looked was Think Geek. I searched their site and found this one that serves both functions.  How happy am I?

It’s perfect and it’s simple - a hotplate powered by USB keeps your coffee warm. But if Alton Brown has taught us anything is that we hate a single-use tool. That, and, sometimes we like our caffeine served cold. No problem, ’cause we’ve got you covered!

Just flip a switch, and the hot-plate turns into a peltier device, quickly cooling to 45 degrees Fahrenheit (7 degrees Celsius). Sweet! By maintaining optimum temperatures for your caffeine delivery system, you can enjoy increased work productivity and nice twitchy gaming reflexes.

Features Include:

* Connection via USB
* Cold-plate chills to 45˚F
* Hotplate warms to 120˚F
* Helps keeps your beverage at optimum temperature
* USB cable length: 2 feet
* Power consumption: 5.75W
* Dimensions: 5.25″ x 3.25″ x 1.4″

I did it! I ordered a Wacom Tablet, and it should be here on Wednesday. I’ve been coveting one of these for a while, so I’m pretty excited.

The Intuos3 professional pen tablet makes it easy to quickly and professionally edit photos and create digital artwork by turning on the full power of Adobe® Photoshop®, Corel® Painter™, and over 100 other leading software applications. Create universal settings for your pen and tablet or alter your settings by application for maximum productivity.

I’ll let you know how I like it after it arrives!

I could watch this video over and over:

Keepon is a Beatbot developed by Hideki Kozima and programmed by Marek Michalowski. To be clear, Keepon is a robot, not a puppet, as some have assumed. Check out the website to see his insides: Beat Bots dot org.

The song is Spoon’s I Turn My Camera On.

Human social behavior shares much in common with dance. Our speech, as well as the movement of our body, head, and hands, is periodic and rhythmic. The goal of the BeatBots project is to develop robots that can interact with people by synchronizing with these social rhythms. We believe that rhythmic synchrony is as important for establishing engagement, rapport, and comfort between a robot and a person as it is between people.

I think I’m going to lose my geek-cred here, but my electronics thumb has turned black. I can’t connect my Nintendo DS through the Wi-Fi; the Wii no longer remains connected (even though I have Wii Connect 24 turned on). Our internet connection is intermittent; if I ever want to use my webcam I have to close all other applications that might want to use it (this is new — before, I could have Yahoo and Skype open and use the webcam). My scanner doesn’t want to scan, and the printer takes it’s own sweet time, that is, if it’s in the mood to print. And… our DVR decided it doesn’t want to record anymore.

I’m sure I can fix everything if I just sit down and figure everything out, but it’s so overwhelming. All I want for Christmas is for someone to come and make everything all better.

On the plus side, I did get The Legend of Zelda installed and running on my calculator. WooHoo!

Classes started today. Already have homework. I’ve never spent so much money on a calculator before!

But, it has a USB connection!

Oh, and I got all of the classes I wanted!